This is the blog of writer & illustrator, Robert James Luedke. During the 1990's, Robert created the comic book series: Template, Max Damage and No Justice/No Piece. From 2002-2010 Robert created the AWARD-WINNING Christian Graphic Novel series, Eye Witness, which is a unique combination of religious fiction with a modern day action-adventure.

Tuesday, August 03, 2010

Is Ann Rice Evil, Bold or Just Sick & Tired

I just got wind of Ann Rice's announcement concerning her Christian Faith over the weekend at my Church (The Village) during a talk by Matt Chandler about the reasons people use to insulate themselves from knowing God or embracing faith.

A world famous author, (the original one to make Vampires cool) Anne Rice has boldly declared that she is no longer a Christian. On her Facebook page yesterday Rice wrote this:

Today I quit being a Christian. I’m out. I remain committed to Christ as always but not to being “Christian” or to being part of Christianity. It’s simply impossible for me to “belong” to this quarrelsome, hostile, disputatious, and deservedly infamous group. For ten years, I’ve tried. I’ve failed. I’m an outsider. My conscience will allow nothing else. … I’m out. In the name of Christ, I refuse to be anti-gay. I refuse to be anti-feminist. I refuse to be anti-artificial birth control. I refuse to be anti-Democrat. I refuse to be anti-secular humanism. I refuse to be anti-science. I refuse to be anti-life. In the name of …Christ, I quit Christianity and being Christian. Amen.My thoughts?...

This could be a very cleverly hatched promotional scheme to generate buzz for her upcoming book release (Of Love and Evil). And by association, it could also be part of a continuing attempt to recoup readers she lost during her "Christian" writing period (re: Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt) many of which who undoubtedly want the "Dark" Anne Back!

Or this could also just be a modern American Christian (granted a very high profile one) venting about some of the very same issues that trouble many believers...that the faith has come full circle back to a religion that is not so different than Judaism during the time of Jesus and become the very essence of what he fought against. In other words, that with many "corporate Christians" it's become less about the Word, Jesus, salvation, forgiveness and compassion and more about the layer upon layer of "man-centered" rules and interpretations that have piled up over the centuries (Re: that to be Christian is to be conservative republican, to be against health care for all, to be against birth control etc...). During the time of the first century it was almost impossible to uphold all the rules man had piled on to Judaism, which is what Jesus came to strip away and why he was so despised by the religious leaders of the day.

Just for the record, I don't share her beliefs on all the issues she lists, but understand and appreciate the spirit in which she is making this declaration. For almost 40 years I kept Christianity and Jesus at arm's length, due to the irresponsible, hypocritical and even criminal behavior of some of it's high profile members. How many others are not opening their hearts, minds and souls to the Word now, because of the exclusion they feel because they fall into one of many groups that the talking-Christian-heads they hear on TV say cannot join the club...when Jesus made it very clear that "all can join"! And of course he also told us, "all will not," but that is not for us to decide, but God.

So bottom line, I feel like Anne Rice is really just venting and saying stuff some of us wish we had the courage or platform to give voice to...."Hey world, we are not exclusive, we are inclusive to anyone who wants salvation!" Notice she doesn't say she no longer believes, she's just saying she's sick and tired of the religious games. Saying so doesn't make us unworthy of our faith, just unsatisfied with how some men (and women, of course) have corrupted it.